Before the start of the 2011 (final as far as the Atlas is concerned) breeding season we identified 120 tetrads in which less than 10 species had been confirmed as breeding during 2008-10. Many thanks to all the people who have agreed to cover one or more of these tetrads for Roving Records. It's great to see that 93 tetrads have now been allocated and that the numbers of confirmed breeding species are increasing significantly in these 2km squares.

There are still 25 unallocated tetrads which do need coverage. Surely there must be a die hard Oasis fan out there who would love to have the excuse to loiter outside the Gallagher bros former residence. Now is your chance! All you have to do is sign up to SD89R Burnage and check whether they have House Martins nesting under the eaves For those who prefer to get away from it all there are moorland tetrads such as SE00F Wilderness and SJ99V Ludworth Moor (with only 4 confirmed breeding species ).

To help with the Atlas you do not have to do any survey work. Just bird watch in the tetrad as often as you like and initially submit to the BTO website Bird Atlas one record with a breeding code for each species seen . If you are lucky enough on your first visit to confirm breeding of Song Thrush then as far as that species goes the job is done. However, if over 3 visits you see a Whitethroat singing (S), then nest building (B), then carrying food (FF) you would log 3 records for this species.

Here is the list of tetrads which need some coverage. If you think you may be interested you can obtain a map from the BTO website Tetrad Map Please drop me a pm if you are going to take on a tetrad so we can keep tabs on which remain uncovered.

SD61A Blackrod 8 11 7 Bolton

SD61B Anderton 44 26 6 Bolton

SD70D Lever Edge 4 21 14 Bolton

SD71L Bradshaw 24 3 6 Bolton

SD81C Nangreaves 8 27 10 Bury

SJ89R Burnage 26 13 11 Manchester

SJ89S Rusholme 18 13 10 Manchester

SJ89T West Gorton 14 15 8 Manchester

SD91W White Hill 10 8 3 Oldham

SE00F Wilderness 9 17 4 Oldham

SD81G Birtle 12 5 6 Rochdale

SD81N Naden 30 27 9 Rochdale

SD81S Caldershaw 33 23 11 Rochdale

SJ79B Irlam Moss South 11 12 8 Salford

SJ79U Patricroft 26 7 5 Salford

SJ79Z Eccles 13 0 2 Salford

SJ89E Pendleton 10 11 2 Salford

SJ88S Gillbent 12 19 11 Stockport

SJ99V Ludworth Moor 33 21 4 Stockport

SJ99W Hodgefold 35 6 10 Tameside

SJ79V Sale 6 5 2 Trafford

SD60G Hindley Green 34 20 11 Wigan

SD60H Hindley East 2 0 0 Wigan

SD60K West Leigh 17 7 1 Wigan

SD60W Shakerley 15 6 6 Wigan

The numbers are no. of species recorded in the tetrad: Possible, Probable and Confirmed breeder. The possible/probable breeders indicate that in most of these tetrads there is plenty of scope to increase the number of confirmed breeders. Our target is 20 to 25 confirmed species in each tetrad compared to an average in the previous GM Atlas (1979-83) of 23 species per tetrad.